4EDIT SIKKIM EXPRESS, TUESDAY, 25 DECEMBER 2018, GANGTOK

Little by littleThe name of the game in democracy is to take a step,

assess its popularity and implementation, and if foundwanting, take one or even two steps back. The implementationof a national tax is no small matter. Never mind the shenanigansand sledging that is part and parcel of Indian political life, theGST remains a great step towards integrating the country.Remember, the Unification of Germany was preceded by acustoms union in early nineteenth century, which went a longway in breaking down protectionist barriers and led to the creationof a German nation. So, the decision of the Central governmentand the GST council on Saturday, to reduce price cuts on 23items is welcome. The list includes all that is dear to the commonman– movie tickets, third party motor insurance, smaller TVsets, power banks, flights for Haj and Mansarovar Yatra andbranded frozen vegetables. They are all set to get cheaper.

With the latest round of cuts, that become effective fromJanuary 1, the government has reduced rates on nearly 360items since GST was introduced almost 18 months ago. Byall indications, there is more to come. At the next meeting inJanuary, the Union Finance Minister and the state financeministers will look to pare down more items, including theever important housing. There is a plan afoot to cut rates onunder-construction houses, given its importance to the public.The revenue loss likely to accrue from this latest round ofcuts is estimated somewhere in the region of Rs 5,500 crore.But when considered against the background of public reliefit offers, it is frankly not much. Significantly, of the 23 goodsand services whose rates have been slashed, the tax rate onseven items in the 28 per cent slab has been brought down.With this, only 23 goods are left in this high tax bracket. Inother words, the 28 per cent slab is now restricted to onlyluxury and sin goods, apart from auto parts and cements.

Obviously, given the high revenue implications, it wouldbe difficult to touch them for the moment. Finance ministerArun Jaitley has a point when he says that rate rationalisingin an ongoing process. When GST was introduced, India hadone of the most irrational taxation rates anywhere. Mostitems were charged at 31 per cent so the government hadtransiently put them at 28 per cent, because an immediatereduction would have impacted social expenditures of thecentral and state governments. To that extent, the PrimeMinister must be credited with keeping his promise ofreducing rates as revenues have moved up and affordabilityhas increased. So the common criticism against the governmentof keeping rates too high at the time of introducing GST is nowbeginning to wear thin - all in good time. To be sure, somestates have objected to the rate cut because it impacts theirown revenues. As can be expected, they have demanded thattheir revenue losses be compensated by the central government.

Making the world a kinder place

Rhenock School - My Buba Dreamt ofDiamond Jubilee Year Incarnated

THINKING LOCAL

RAJIVA SHANKERSHRESTA

The poet’s poet: Edmund Spenser

PART-II

Besides Dr. ShantiChettri, a renownedlietterateur, many of

his students have excelled laterin life. Jamyang Bhutia, TseringWangchuk Bhutia, BedhaNidhi Sharma, MeghnathSharma, Juddhabir Chettri,Nedup Tsering Bhutia, HariPrasad Pradhan, Deo KumarPradhan are the names thatcome immediately to my mindwho served as teachers apartfrom Dr. Hari Prasad Chettri,an agriculture graduate turnedreputed educationist (FiveWays Tutorials, HimalayanPharmacy Institute, harkamayaCollge and Greenland School)post retirement. KrishnaPradhan has been serving asPanchayat President andHukum Chandra Pradhan* wasa popular Mandal, whileGanesh Kumar Pradhan of RamGauri Sangrahalaya, who wasalso my student there, has madea name for himself to behonoured by the Governmentof Sikkim on IndependenceDay this year for hisoutstanding contributions tothe society. Khamtu Tseringserved as a peon with Buba foralong time and he has goodmemories of many of theheads there like PJ Joseph,Geeta Sharma*, Isaac Mukhia,Lachchy Pradhan and manyothers and what way my Bubaexcelled those days. DeepaPradhan (now happily settleddown in Maryland, USA), SitaPradhan* (sister-in-law ofSunder Babu) and BishnuKumar Pradhan* (father ofillustrious sons like Dhiraj –Managing Director of DenzongAgriculture Co-operativeSociety, Sunil and Bikram) werelucky from (Khamtu’s batchincluded Bhagat Gurung also)the class VIII of 1962 to beselected for Bharat Darshan toDelhi and other places and bringhome classic books like ‘My

Experiment with Truth’ and‘Discovery of India’ presentedto him by the Ministry ofEducation. Pema Dadi, NariTsering, Tsering Gyatso,Topgey Bhutia, Topay Bhutia,Sono Tsering, Hom NathSharma*, Binoy KumarPradhan*, Shaym SunderPradhan, etc. were the studentswho were good footballers fortheir school TNA and havecontributed much to the Stateserving the Government invarious capacities. Students fromthe business community Prem*,Omkar, Ram Awatar, Santosh,Keshar, Bijay, Purushottam,Harishchandra, Pawan, Sajjan andmany others are all success andmost of them have moved awayto Siliguri (Balaji Logistics, SikkimPlaza) besides to the capitalGangtok (Beekay Hardware andits branches from the originalBanwarilal Omkarmal ofRhenock), Pakyong and otherplaces. Even children of theteachers there like P. K. Pradhanviz., Sushila, Kumar, Sabina andothers have served and retiredfrom this School. To top them allis the present Principal SurenPradhan from home GPU Aritar.He has the rare honour to headthe Rhenock Senior SecondarySchool to bring in unprecedentedmajor changes to an entirely newlook to the premises with abeautiful huge modern auditorium,school and hostel buildingsawaiting inauguration soon.

Best to remember that rosein the political scenario torepresent the constituency andbecome our own Area MLA isthe present incumbant BikramPradhan also from the homeGPU Aritar, who has made aniche for himself and proved tobe a popular figure not onlyamong the youth but old alike.Remote GPU of theconstituency, Lower Khamdongadjoining Lingsey Simana inWest Bengal border is happygetting new link roads beingrecently approved and tenderedafter years together of neglect.What could he do the best forthe Rhenock School was black-topping of the approach roadthough a small stretch of a fewhundred meters but had to waitall these years till 2017 whenmuch water flowed down theReshi and Rorathang rivers withmany of the political leadersfrom the area utterly failed inthis regard. Water supplyprovided by the PHEconnection has also reachedrecently there in Kingston thefar end of the Aritar GPU andbetter flow of development isexpected here by all. Not only

the School but the adjoiningareas also look forward forbetter days with boost intourism like in other places inAritar known known forLampokhari Tourist Festival(under the patronage of Dhiraj,Bikram and many others) everyApril bringing in increasednumber of visitors each year.Rhenock though late in gettingthe recognition as a seniorsecondary school, is proud tohave a Government Collegebesides a private seniorsecondary level school andmany other schools to feed everincreasing hunger for better andhigher education of the presentyouth who have aspirations toreach the sky in this competitiveworld that has turned out to be aglobal village due to internetconnectivity expected toimprove in near future.

With these developmentstaking place not only the soulof the founder-members of theSchool Managing Committeewith my Buba as the belovedHead Sir but of all who werebehind establishing and raisingit directly or indirectly, eachcontributing their best asstudents, teachers and parentsto the present status of theRhenock School reincarnatedway back since 1958 would feeltheir dreams fullfilled and alltheir blessings from heaven goon showered to them on theirAnnual Day coming Mondaythe 24th December that alsohappens to be is DiamondJubilee Year to look forward formore laurels and achievementswith renewed vim and vigourin the years ahead.

Wishing all our readers AVery Happy and ProsperousNew Year - 2019 to augur well,full of happiness, peace,prosperity, success along withhealthy long life!

(Disclaimer: This is author’spersonal account of memoriesupdated to cherish and treasureoften on a detour here and thereen route to share the joy of thejourney called life. Some names(asterisk* for those no more),quotes, places and eventsmentioned are just to connectwith and no malice whatsoeverintended. He can be reached atshrestars@gmail.com. ‘TheNewars Worldwide –Connecting the Dot : Sikkim’and ‘Sikkim: The NewfoundHome of the Newars in the BlackHill – Newars : Here and There’by the author are available atwww.rachnabooks.com.)

CONCLUDED

This is for all thosepeople who write tome complaining about

the dogs on the streets. Theyalways start their emails bysaying they are great animallovers and they have dogs oftheir own BUT we must dosomething about the “dogmenace” in order for them, theirchildren, and their dogs, tomove freely withoutencountering “junglees”,“strays”, “ pi-dogs”.

While the government, andall the courts, have orderedsterilization of all dogs by allmunicipalities and districtadministrations, in reality lessthan a tenth of the country isdoing it. Lack of vets, lack ofmoney and, the mostimportant, is lack of vision.The dog sterilizationprogramme is controlled bythe Ministry of Environment,who put out less than 50 lakhsa year for it, instead of theMinistry for Health which hasbeen allocated more than Rs300 crores. But the Ministryfor Environment will not handit over. And the Ministry forHealth is not trying too hardbecause, as their secretary saidto me “Our job is not to sterilizedogs”. Since this would come

under the heading of rabiescontrol, I asked why they werekilling mosquitoes since that wasnot their job. Because, that wasthe only way to bring malariaunder control. Exactly. Sterilizingand vaccinating dogs wouldremove rabies within 5 years.

It is difficult to educatebureaucrats, since the spacewhere their brains should be isfilled with ego and a limitedlogic that runs only on onenarrow gauge track.

However, here is anotherway to deal with the dogs andcats on the road. Illegal breedersare breeding lakhs of pedigreeddogs who are unhealthy, inbredand found in every pet shop.It is now illegal for any petshop to keep any animalswithout a registration, whichis very strict, but our feet onthe ground are so limited andso vulnerable to bribes that Iam not sure how long it willtake the authorities to applythe new laws.So, here is what we can do:America’s shelters have a killpolicy. Abandoned animals in

shelters are allowed to live 28days and if they are notadopted, they are killed. Overthe years a large number of no-kill shelters have come up. Butthe dogs live in cages for therest of their lives, unless theyare adopted.

In 2017 , California passeda law, A.B.485, that pet storeswill only sell puppies, kittensand rabbits from shelters andrescue centres. Violators willbe fined $ 500 and shut down.This effectively puts an endto commercial animal breedersand brokers, and to the terriblepractice of illegal breeding. Justrecently we had to rescue 11dogs in the backyard of adoctor in Thane. They werestarved, on the verge of death,eating their own faeces, buteach had given birth to anynumber of puppies who hadbeen sold by the doctor withforged certificates as to theirforeign pedigree.

The pet trade in Americapredictably protested sayingthat “it would jeopardisejobs”. (They were overruled).

But in India the trade does notemploy anyone. It is an illegalbusiness which operates bytaking a few dogs, tying themup, forcibly breeding themevery six months and thenputting them in illegal petshops. It will put no one outof business.

Why not bring the samelaw into India. Almost everycity now has an animal welfaregroup. Many of them haveanimal shelters. My shelter inDelhi, Sanjay Gandhi AnimalCare Centre, gets a minimumof ten throwaways a day.People who have boughtpedigreed dogs, kept thembadly, made them sick, tiedthem up the whole day andmade them ferocious, and thenthey come to the hospital,pretend they have come formedicine /treatment and then,when they think no one islooking, they run off, leavingthe dog behind in an alien,diseased, unfriendlysurrounding. We take Rs15,000 for each abandonedanimal but, in order not to pay,

these people – who have paidfar more in buying the dogs,will tie them to the gate or eventhrow them over the wall.

Most of the abandoneddogs are Pomeranians andSpitzes. The others areLabradors, and the huge woollySwiss ones that were originallysmuggled into India. And, ofcourse, lots of Vodafone pugs.We put the dogs into a specialenclosure, in full view of thehundreds of visitors who come,so that they can adopt them.Some get homes. Others wasteaway with broken hearts, andthe terror of being in anuncomfortable enclosure withfifty other dogs, till they die.My sister takes the mostdamaged ones home, and shehas 17 in her tiny house. I have24. Once they recover andbounce back, we try and findhomes for them.

So, if we made itcompulsory for pet shops toonly sell dogs and cats fromshelters, we would be able toachieve two things: theabandoned foreign animals

would find homes and theshelters would make a littlemoney. The dogs/cats could besterilized, vaccinated and madehealthy before selling – unlikethe pedigreed dogs/cats thatcome from breeders . They aresold without vaccinations andmost of them die as puppiesof distemper and parvo.

The other thing it wouldachieve is that pet shops willstart selling the cutest Indianpuppies supplied to themfrom shelters. No shelter willbreed foreign dogs, so, , in theabsence of formal retail outlets,the breeding of foreign dogswill go down. People who wantdogs will take Indian dogs.People who like buying dogswill buy them from shops.

Please start campaigning inyour states for this. We canmake the world a much kinderplace if we push for the rightthings.

(To join the animal welfaremovement contactgandhim@nic.in,

www.peopleforanimalsindia.org)

DR. P.K. CHHETRI

I n the days of QueenElizabeth, the poetry waswhat mattered, not the man

who wrote it, therefore writingthe biography of a poet was noteven dreamed of. Poetry wasonly a delightful hobby, andconsidered not an occupationto engage to take all a man’stime or even his most seriousmoments of life. It was only aleisurely pursuit, in whichnearly every gentlemanindulged in. It was not deemednecessary by an Elizabethan tofind out to know, how and whya particular person becomes apoet, or what the externalinfluences which shaped himinto to develop his work. Theysimply read it and gloried in it.But without knowing theinclinations of the poet it isdifficult to fully admire hispoetry, because man is theproduct of his nature.Therefore, without knowing innutshell the miniaturebiography of Edmund Spencer,we shall not be able tounderstand how he became theauthor of “The Faerie Queene”,which brought him love andhonour and was also held in highesteem for creating the mostmusical, most sweetly beautifulpoetry in English literature.

He was most probably bornin 1552 in London. His fatherwas a cloth maker fromLancashire and not very welloff financially, but being a freejourneyman of the MerchantTaylors’ Company, he managedto send his two sons Edmundand John to the newly foundedMerchant Taylors’ School withthe help of Robert Nowell, arich Lancashire man. Theheadmaster of the school,Richard Mulcaster, was a highlylearned man, and under his careSpencer had dreamt of beingone day a great poet of allEngland. He started writingpoetry while at school, andsome of it was published in 1569in the form of an anthologyedited by John van der Noodt.Since Mulcaster was a pioneerin teaching English, Spencerconstantly receivedencouragement from him in hisearly efforts.

In those days learning ofLatin was considered asindispensable to study by everyteacher, only a few felt itnecessary to teach English. ForMulcaster learning English wasthe priority, “We are directedby nature and property to readthat first, and to care for thatwhich we use most, because weneed it most” and for those whothought Latin as finer language,he said, “I honour the Latin,but I love the English.” Evenhe mustered courage to declare,“I take this present period ofEnglish tongue to be the veryheight thereof, because I findit so excellent well fined, bothfor the body of the tongue itselfand for the customary writingthereof ...” So he adoptedcertain methods to teach hisstudents English, and thosemethods are growing populareven today. He also had afascination for acting, andorganised his students everyyear to perform before theCourt.

Edmund Spencer was adelicate, sensitive boy andpassionately fond of reading,and just we can imagine if hewas forced to cram Latingrammar and composition forhours, as was the rules in otherschools, what would havebecome of him, because the

learning process of Latin wastoo strenuous like Sanskrit.Besides English, the headmasteralso groomed him in Latin,Greek and Hebrew, which madethe boy a learned classicalscholar, who became fond ofPlato. But Spenser found delightin play-acting, writing simplesonnets and verses and alsodeveloped charm for music,which was being played and sungeveryday in the MerchantTaylors School.

In 1569, Spenser joinedPembroke College, Cambridge,where he remained almost forseven years. Here he befriendedGabriel Harvey (about 1550 –1631), who was appointedFellow of Pembroke a yearafter Spencer’s arrival. He wasa highly learned scholar, whoselecture on rhetoric drew crowdsof eager students. Thisfriendship remained lifelong andproved extremely valuable.Since Gabriel was very oftenridiculed as a conceited,quarrelsome and stupid pedant,many people wondered whatbrought Spenser so close. Buthardly people knew GabrielHarvey always demonstratedhimself as a true and faithfulfriend and adviser of Spenser.Gabriel was haunted at times bymistaken ideas of poetry likeSir Philip Sidney and RogerAscham, who were termed asleaders in a ridiculous attemptto remodel the fashion of theEnglish poetry in line with theclassical rules. Therefore, heexpressed his disappointmentin “The Shepheardes Calender”and the first draft of the“Faerie Queene” in candid andfriendly fashion, yet hedefinitely helped Spenser withgood advice very often and alsoencouraged him as poet andscholar. Even he introducedSpenser to Sir Philip Sydney andthe Earl of Leicester.

In those days for a poet ofhumble rank it was customaryto find out a patron, invariablyshould be a man of influence towhom he could dedicate hiswork and who would displayinterest in it and such a personSpenser found in Sir PhilipSidney and to whom hededicated his first importantwork, “The ShepheardesCalender” (1579). It is verydifficult to assess what initiallycultivated friendship betweenthem, because Sidney greatlyadmired and respected Spenser,but it was also a fact Spenserloved Sidney as he loved noother man. Sidney was after alla highly brilliant andaccomplished courtier and agentleman in thecontemporary England, andwho simply at the age of thirtyhad earned a reputationthroughout Europe as a soldier,skilful diplomatist and scholar.It cannot be imagined at thismoment how these two peoplewalked together arm in arm inthe gardens of Penshurst,Sidney’s beautiful home inKent, and argued onphilosophy and recited versesthey had composed. If we ruleout for the present otherinfluences that went tocompose “The Faerie Queene”,we cannot ignore the love hebore to Sir Philip Sydney, thehero of his youth and the idealof his manhood.

Every possible care wastaken to make the publicationof “The Shepheardes Calender”a big event. Spenser and hisfriends had hoped for anoverwhelming reception, forthe work in itself was absolutelya new attempt in English poetry

and a daring poetry in moreways than one. At this momentnone was sure how Englishpoetry was going to develop,whether it would be influencedby classical, Italian or English.He threw down the gauntlet anddeclared himself boldly asEnglish through and through.For him Chaucer was hismentor and admitted that fromChaucer alone had he learnt theart of poetry. For Chaucer hehad coined a name Tityrus inhis poem, and expressed hisprofound love and reverence:“The god shepheardes Tityrusis dead,Who taught me homely, as Ican, to make,He, whilst he lived, was thesoveraigne head of shepheardesall ...But if on me some little dropswould flowe,Of that the spring was in hislearned hedde,I soone would learne (teach)these words, to mourne my woe,And teache the trees, theirtrickling tears to shedde.”

The poem is obviouslypastoral and written in popularform. There are twelve poemsin “The Shepheardes Calender”,each representing a month, andhe took liberty to use all sortsof metres. This was quite a newexperiment in Englishliterature. Without doubt theyare English metres, but theywere picked up from Chaucerand the ballads. Unmistakablythe language is English, yet itwas an open challenge to thosewho Latinized the Englishtongue. In a letter to Harveyhe wrote, “Why, a God’s name,may we not have the kingdomof our language?” “TheShepheardes Calender”established English as a languageof the Englishmen. Here heemploys dialect, old-fashionedand words long since dead andslang expressions of his owntime. He coined new words tofit in his verse. His friend E.K.supplied a glossary. He appearsin the poem as Colin Clout andall the shepherds in the poemare real people in disguise and heopenly declares himself as themaster poet far better than hisother fellow poets. He writes:

“For never thing on earthso pleases me; As him to hear,or matter of his deed.”

In the poem Spenser hadpaid tribute to Queen Elizabethhoping that he would receiverecognition and get a positionat Court. He did not get whathe had hoped for, however inAugust 1580 he was appointed

private secretary to Arthur,Lord Grey of Wilton (1536-1593), who had recently beenmade Lord Deputy of Ireland.Rest of his life was spent inIreland, which helped him toreflect in his poem the beautyof the Irish scenery. Had he notbeen in Ireland, then “TheFaerie Queen” would not havebecome the work of hauntingloveliness that it is at present.

For two years he was theclose companion of Lord Grey,whose rule in Ireland was arecord of savage butchery, yetfor Spenser he was “mostgentle, affable, loving andtemperate” and his rule was“the necessity of that presentstate of things enforced him tothat violence, and almostchanged his very naturaldisposition.” When Spenserreached Ireland, it was in thestate of utter wretchedness, itsinhabitants lived the life ofbrutes, hunted and lived in cavesand fought amongstthemselves, but they loathedone foe in total unison, theEnglish. Lord Grey, supportedby Spenser, decided to suppresswith brutal force the Irish toforce them into submission. Sofor two years they wereterrorised like anything by openmassacre, ravaging and burningand even executing on flimsygrounds. It astonishes a readeras to how a gentle, sensitivepoet approved of theapplication of brutal force onthe dissidents and honouringand revering a cruel man likeLord Grey; even he went beyondall logic to make him SirArtegall, an upright hero andan emblem of justice of “TheFaerie Queene”. This isbecause both of them werePuritans and for the conquestof Ireland applied the same zealof the early Crusaders whowent to recapture Jerusalem.In the name of vindicatingProtestantism all cruelties wereconsidered justified by him.Lord Grey believed that it washis holy duty in the name ofhis Queen and God toexterminate and wipe out therebellion and RomanCatholicism. The saddest sideof Spencer is: he could not seethe fine line that separatesjustice from cruelty.

Spenser continued to livein Ireland even after thedeparture of Lord Grey. Afterliving in Dublin for someyears, in 1587 he waspresented with the estate andmansion of Kilcolman in Cork,where he wrote most of “The

Faerie Queene”. Though hebegan it long before as early as1579, here he has beenprovided with enough of timeto give it perfection andincorporate loveliness andbeauty for which he has greatfascination. In 1589, SirWalter Raleigh (circa 1552-1618), a most noble, brilliantand restless adventurouspioneer of the time, visitedSpenser, for whom he read outthe three books of “TheFaerie Queene”. Raleigh felthighly impressed and at onceunderstood what a masterpieceit was. He immediately inspiredSpenser and both of them setsail for London to publish. Inthe early next year (1590) itwas published with a dedicationaddressed to Queen Elizabeth,“Her most humble servant,Edmund Spenser doth in allhumilitie dedicate, present andconsecrate these his labours tolive with the eternitie of herfame.” Indeed “The FaerieQueene” acquired eternal fameby distinguishing itself as thechief glory of Englishliterature. It quickly acquiredtremendous popularityamongst the Elizabethans.They loved its beauty oflanguage, its melody andendless adventures of theknights of ladies in Fairylandand its allegory. For the ladiesof the Court he became an idol,and in gratefulness hecomposed elegant sonnets andother verses for them.

Despite so much ofpopularity, he failed to get aposition at Court, yet hereceived a small pension fromthrifty Elizabeth. Leavingbehind him a volume of“Complaint” for beingneglected to be published, hereturned to Ireland in utterdisgust. The first three booksnarrate the stories ofSt.George, the Knight of theRed Cross, or Holiness, theUna, of Sir Guyon, who wasTemperance, and Britomart,the maiden knight of Chastity.In 1596, further three bookswere published in which wereincluded the stories of Cambeland Telamond, or Friendship,of Artegall, or Justice, and ofCalidore, or Courtesy. Afterthe death of Spenser afragment of a seventh book,of Constancy, was published.His untimely death preventedhim from completing the restof the books.

In October, 1598, the Irishrose in revolt, and having hishome being burnt down, healong with his family fled toLondon. In the early Januarynext year he was taken ill, anddied quite suddenly. He wasburied in Westminster Abbey,which was a great honourthose days. Spenser had earlierplanned twelve books of “TheFaerie Queene” with perhapsanother twelve to follow,unfortunately he couldcomplete only six, andtherefore it is difficult to judgeat this moment the nature ofhis other volumes and howthey would have fared. Nobodyreads Spenser now; he is readbecause, according to CharlesLamb, he was “the poet’spoet”, who displayed immensecommand over English poeticrhythm and metre withextraordinary poeticimagination. Though he died apoor man, yet his work was noless inferior to Milton’s“Paradise Lost.”

( Email:drpkchhetri@hotmail.com)